ARMY CHIEF QAMAR BAJWA’S FAMILY BECAME BILLIONAIRES WITHIN THE LAST SIX YEARS

Members of Bajwa’s immediate and extended family started a new international business, shifted capital abroad, and bought foreign properties.

In this process, a young woman from Lahore became a billionaire nine days prior to becoming the daughter-in-law of the COAS while her other three sisters remained as they were.

This young woman, Mahnoor Sabir got back-dated allocations of eight DHA plots in Gujranwala on October 23, 2018, nine days before her marriage on November 02, 2018, something only possible if one has ownership of land acquired by DHA

On the same day in 2018, the girl also became an owner of a Constitution One Grand Hyatt apartment again in the back dates of 2015.

This was the same time when many politicians were given Constitution One apartments sometime before Saqib Nisar legalized this shady project

The General’s family also started joint business ventures with Sabir “Mithu” Hameed of Lahore (father to Mahnoor and father-in-law of Bajwa’s son) and the same year the Hameed’s started transferring capital outside Pakistan and purchasing properties abroad.

The General’s wife Ayesha became a multi-billionaire with large farmhouses in Gulberg Greens Islamabad and Karachi, multiple residential plots in Lahore, and commercial plots and plazas in DHA schemes.

Bajwa’s wife became the owner of two commercial plazas in phase IV and phase VI of DHA Lahore while he was COAS. The General’s wife used to hold money (some half a million dollars) in her United States Dollars (USD) accounts.

FBR records show that the General’s wife was warned multiple times for concealing assets, Fact Focus will release the details of these records in a follow-up report.

The General’s family started an oil business in 2018, Taxx Pakistan, headquartered in Dubai and expanded all over Pakistan within a few months. 

Despite many efforts over the last three years, Fact Focus was unable to obtain data about assets in the name of the General’s two sons.

Ahmad Noorani

When Qamar Javed Bajwa became a lieutenant general, his wife was not even a tax filer. His closest friend in Lahore, Sabir “Mithu” Hameed, was a good businessman but not a billionaire. Everything changed for both families as they moved ahead and become one family.

Within six years, both families become billionaires, started an international business, purchased multiple foreign properties, started transferring capital abroad, become owners of commercial plazas, commercial plots, huge farmhouses in Islamabad and Karachi, an immense real estate portfolio in Lahore, and so on. The current market value of the – known – assets and businesses within Pakistan and outside accumulated by the Bajwa family during the last six years is more than Rs12.7 billion.

 

Here different members of General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s extended family are discussed separately. Starting with Ayesha Amjad, wife of General Bajwa, to Mr. “Mithu” (Sabir Hameed, General Bajwa’s old friend and father-in-law of his eldest son) and his family. A picture emerges, illustrating how the properties of these families increased during the last six years of General Bajwa’s ‘rule’.

Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG-ISPR) of Pakistan Army Major General Babar Iftikhar was repeatedly approached by this correspondent for three consecutive days but he avoided responding to the calls. Sabir Hameed (Mithu) also avoided attending calls or responding to questions from Fact Focus. Fact Focus will publish the complete viewpoint of General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Sabir Hameed if they decided to speak on these points.

The General’s wife

 

Qamar Javed Bajwa, in his returns for the year 2013, had declared that his wife had three properties in her name. These properties were:

1. an eight-marla commercial plot in phase-VIII of DHA Lahore (declared value: Rs3,000,000),
2. one Kanal plot in DHA Islamabad (declared value: Rs1,500,000), and
3. an eight-marla commercial plot in phase-IV of the DHA Lahore (declared value: Rs2,500,000).

2013 General Qamar Bajwa Return

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2013 General Qamar Bajwa Wealth Statement

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2013 Wealth Statement of General Qamar Bajwa Revised

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2013 Wealth Statement of General Qamar Bajwa Revised second time

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2013 Wealth Statement of General Qamar Bajwa Revised for the third time

The market values (minimum) of these three and all other assets later accumulated by her during the last six years are given at the end of this section.

General Bajwa initially submitted this return and wealth statement in 2013 on November 30. However, after being appointed COAS he revised the wealth statement for this year three times: on September 17, 2017, November 02, 2017, and November 08, 2017. In the revised wealth statement for the year 2013, General Bajwa added a commercial plot in phase VIII of DHA Lahore. He claimed that in fact he had purchased this plot back in 2013 but forgot to declare. He would continue to forget for the next four years and could only remember his omissions in 2017, one year after becoming army chief.

Ayesha Amjad, the wife of General Bajwa, registered as a tax filer on August 10, 2016. Her husband was to be considered as a candidate for being appointed the next army chief of the country in November 2016. The 2016 annual return and wealth statement was her first-ever declaration with the FBR which was originally submitted on October 28, 2016, just three weeks before Bajwa was appointed the army chief.

2016:

In her 2016 declaration, Ayesha Amjad declared eight “Any Other Assets” without describing them. This wealth statement was however revised on April 17, 2018, when General Bajwa army chief. Declared values were mentioned in the returns. Market values are given below. Ayesha declared that the net value of her assets during the previous financial year, 2015, was zero.

2016 Tax Return Ayesha Amjad

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2016 Wealth Statement Ayesha Amjad

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2016 Revised Wealth Statement

[Readers can click on the above-given web links to download and examine the annual returns, wealth statement, and revised wealth statement]

2017:

The 2017 wealth statement showed nine “Any Other Assets” and only described two properties including:

1. A commercial plaza in phase-VI DHA Lahore, and
2. An under-construction 4047 sq ft flat in phase-V of DHA Lahore.

Market values of these assets are mentioned below where all assets are identified.

2017 Tax Return of Ayesha Amjad

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2017 Wealth Statement of Ayesha Amjad

2018:

The tax records for the year 2018 show that Ayesha retained all the previous years’ assets and purchased five more commercial and residential properties. She also declared a USD foreign currency account this year which had USD 384,166 = PKR 35,691,882 in it.

Five new properties added this year include:

1. Oasis farmhouse DHA Karachi (advance payment)
2. An apartment (mentioned as a plot but later corrected as apartment in following years) at PAF Housing Scheme Karachi
3. Four marla commercial plot # C/E/00391, DHA phase 9 Lahore
4. Four marla commercial plot # PC/E/00132 DHA Phase 9, Lahore
5. Apartment 2730 Sq ft in Sukh Chayn Islamabad (advance payment)

Declared values are shown in the wealth statement. Marker values (minimum) are given at the end.

2018 Tax Returns of Ayesha Amjad

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2018 Wealth Statement of Ayesha Amjad

2019:

The tax records for the next year, 2019, show all properties, except one, were maintained and one new property was added.

Ayesha sold one property this year and had a capital gain of Rs 43,000,000. She immediately converted all Pakistan Rupees into United States Dollars. Pakistani currency was devaluing at a rapid pace in those days.

The money in the foreign currency account reached USD 656,030 = PKR 66,083,330.

Amounts in other bank accounts and cash and prize bonds were in the tens of millions and can be checked from the returns.

The following properties were purchased/identified:

1. Purchased commercial plaza in phase-IV DHA Lahore,
2. An “Any Other Asset” entry was identified as an eight-marla commercial plaza in phase-VI of DHA Lahore,
3. 500 yards plot in DHA Islamabad (Identified. Earlier it was declared as “Any Other Asset” without a description.)

2019 Returns and Wealth Statement of Ayesha Amjad

2020:

This year, Ayesha retained all the previous properties and purchased two large farmhouses in Gulberg Greens Islamabad. She also declared Dollar FCA account balance USD 478157.78.

Both new farmhouses were ten Kanal each in sector B of Gulberg Greens Islamabad. Ayesha declared that she had bought one farmhouse for Rs 50,000,000 (and two for Rs 100,000,000). However, the minimum market price of one ten Kanal farmhouse in sector B of Gulberg Greens was Rs 150,000,000. So, two farmhouses would cost Rs 300,000,000 at the minimum. One of these farmhouses was a corner plot at the crossroads of street 9A and street 8. Both farmhouses are adjacent, together with an immense 20 Kanal farmhouse property in the heart of Gulberg. Clearly, this was one of the largest cases of misdeclaration.

2020 Returns and Wealth Statement of Ayesha Amjad

 

2021:

All properties were retained. Her foreign currency account balance stood at USD 591,831 = PKR 59,846,330.

The market value of assets obtained by Ayesha Amjad during her husband’s six year tenure as army chief:

1. Rs150 million – 10 Kanal Farmhouse, plot 70, street B-9A, Gulberg Greens, Islamabad
2. Rs150 million – 10 Kanal Farmhouse, plot 71, street B-9A, Gulberg Greens, Islamabad
3. Rs187 million – Oasis farmhouse DHA Karachi (advance payment)
4. Rs650 million – Commercial Plaza phase IV DHA Lahore
5. Rs389 million – 8 Marla Commercial Plaza phase VI DHA Lahore
6. Rs70 million – 4 marla commercial plot # C/E/00391, DHA phase 9 Lahore
7. Rs70 million – 4 marla commercial plot # PC/E/00132 DHA Phase 9, Lahore
8. Rs88 million – Apartment 2730 Sq ft in Sukh Chayn Islamabad
9. Rs125 million – 4047 sq ft flat in phase-V of DHA Lahore
10. Rs95 million – 500 yards plot at phase II extension DHA Islamabad
11. Rs90 million – An apartment at PAF Housing Scheme Karachi

And more than 160 million in cash, bonds, ornaments, money in bank accounts, and foreign currency.

2021 Returns and Wealth Statement of Ayesha Amjad

Total: 2,224 million (This does NOT include the residential and commercial plots and a large private residence in Rawalpindi given to General Bajwa in his position as an army general and COAS.)

From zero in 2016 to Rs 2.2 billion (declared and known) in simply six years – not including residential plots, commercial plots, and houses given by the army to her husband.

The making of a young Pakistani billionaire

The total worth of a young woman’s declared assets was zero in the last week of October 2018, it jumped to more than one billion (Rs 1271 million) just one week before her marriage on November 02, 2018.

 

Though Mahnoor Sabir declared these properties to the FBR in 2018, the filing retrospectively stated that these properties were acquired in the tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016. The declarations were made to show that every single property was in fact purchased before November 2016. Why before November 2016? It wasn’t clear at the time but became obvious as time passed. These annual returns, along with the declarations for the tax year 2017, were made on September 14, 2018, and October 23, 2018. Later, declarations for the year 2018 were also submitted on December 17, 2018.

 

 

Mahnoor’s properties include 212 Kanal and 12 marlas agricultural land at Mauza Julke Lahore, alongside Ferozepur Road (current market value of Rs 340 million), four eight-marla and three four-marla commercial plots in Phase 7 Sector C of DHA Lahore (current market value: Rs 490 million), one Grand Hayat Islamabad apartment (current market value: Rs 70 million), allocations of eight one-Kanal plots in DHA Gujaranawala (current market value: Rs 72 million) and 15,000 shares in a company incorporated in 2014, La Residence (Pvt) Ltd, with declared value Rs 1.5 million.

Click the following links to download and read the complete Annual Returns and Wealth Statements of Mahnoor Sabir

2014 Mahnoor

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2015 Return Mahnoor

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2015 Return 2 Mahnoor

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2015 Wealth Statement Mahnoor

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2015 Revised Wealth Statement Mahnoor

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2016 Return Mahnoor

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2016 Wealth Statement Mahnoor

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2016 Wealth Statement Revised Mahnoor

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2017 Return Mahnoor

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2017 Wealth Statement Mahnoor

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2017 Revised Wealth Statement Mahnoor

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2018 Return Mahnoor

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2018 Wealth Statement Mahnoor

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2019 Return and Wealth Statement Mahnoor

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2020 Return and Wealth Statement Mahnoor

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2021 Return and Wealth Statement Mahnoor

 

Mahnoor also became ‘the manager’ of an oil company, Taxx Petroleum Pakistan, in November 2019. Taxx Petroleum, which is currently registered as an overseas company in Pakistan with its head office in Dubai, was in fact first registered in Pakistan on November 14, 2018, and later registered in the UAE on January 16, 2019. Incorporation documents of the company taken from Pakistan show Sabir “Mithu” Hameed, father of Mahnoor, and his brother Nasir Hameed as directors. However, Taxx Petroleum, which started its operations across the whole of Pakistan within days following its incorporation, is being run by the Mahnoor, Bajwa’s daughter-in-law, from its declared head office in Dubai. Mahnoor’s LinkedIn profile lists her as a senior manager at Taxx Petroleum.

The FIA travel history record of the Hameed brothers shows that Sabir Mithu and Nasir rarely traveled to the UAE, while General Bajwa’s son Saad and his wife Mahnoor used to live in Dubai and would rarely visit Pakistan.

DHA Gujranwala plots – A corrupt practice

It is a common corrupt practice in bureaucratic circles to purchase lands from poor farmers at low prices in areas where the government is planning future development projects. Mahnoor was a teenager at the time the land is being shown in her name. If this land was in her father’s name (Sabir Hameed alias “Mithu”), the plot allocations would have been eventually divided among all Mahnoor’s siblings. This was not the case. The plots were declared in Mahnoor’s name alone nine days before she came to live in the Army House as the wife of Saad Bajwa. Documents, wealth statements, and tax returns establish beyond an iota of doubt that Mahnoor’s father Sabir and her mother Saadia never owned any Gujranwala land/DHA plots.

Sisters of Mahnoor

Mahnoor’s sister Hamna Sabir turned 18 on January 09, 2016. The very first tax return Hamna filed (on May 08, 2018) for the year 2017 shows that she had no physical assets. She possessed only one bank account and some cash. Hamna’s sister Mahnoor, older by two years and five months, had become a billionaire by 2017. Both of them had no source of income. Both have the same parents. How Mahnoor alone suddenly gained dozens of plots and lands in DHA was an unresolved mystery till late 2018.

On December 17, 2018, Hamna submitted her returns for 2018 and declared only one residential plot in sector Z of Phase 7, one commercial plot in sector C of Phase 7 of DHA Lahore, and a plot of 115 Kanal land in Mauza Jhalkay Lahore. This year, she also declared 15,000 shares in La Residence (Pvt) Ltd and became its Chief Executive. Her bank balance was Rs 3,368,625 whereas she has cash of Rs 247,125. Though daughter to the same parents, Hamna continued to have the same assets in the years 2019, 2020, and even 2021 whereas her elder sister Mahnoor not only became a billionaire but her businesses expanded across Pakistan and she started living in and running a business in the UAE.

The very first tax return for Aqaba Sabir, 19, third of the four sisters, was submitted on October 22, 2018, when she was 15, for the year 2017 when her age was 14. Her 2017 tax returns disclosed that in 2016 she had no assets but in 2017 she received three properties as gifts. These properties included one four-marla plot and one eight-marla plot both in sector C, and one eight-marla plot in sector A – all commercial plots in phase 7 of DHA Lahore.

In her tax returns for the year 2018, it was declared that while retaining three commercial properties declared the past year, she had also purchased eight new one-Kanal plots in LDA City (A934 to A941) Lahore, and one two-Kanal plot in DHA (only given address: 84-W, DHA). This year, she also declared 14990 shares in LA Residence Pvt Ltd.

In 2019, when she was 16, it was declared in her tax returns that she had sold her eight-marla commercial plot in sector C of DHA phase 7 for Rs 40 million. She purchased this plot a few months back for Rs 5.6 million and hence made a profit of Rs 30.4 million in this duration. It was declared that she gifted this Rs 40 million money received through the sale of the plot to her mother. Selling this plot and gifting the sale amount resulted in a decrease in her assets. Afterward, her assets remained the same in tax returns for the years 2020 and 2021. (The market value of these assets are same as are mentioned with the assets of other persons in the same areas in this story)

A minor

Tax returns of a minor, 12, the youngest of the three sisters of Mahnoor (name not printed because of her status as a minor), were first submitted on October 22, 2018, when her age was eight. These tax returns were for the year 2017 when her age was seven. Her 2017 returns show that she received five properties as a ‘gift’. These properties included one four-marla plot and one eight-marla plot both in sector C, and one eight-marla plot (DV: 5,000,000) in sector A – all commercial plots in phase 7 of DHA Lahore. The other two gifted properties were residential plots each measuring two-Kanal (82-W, 83-W, DHA Lahore).

For the tax year 2018, while retaining all these five properties, the tax returns of the minor girl showed that she received 14990 shares in the LA Residence Pvt Ltd as a gift.

Saadia Sabir

Mother of these four daughters and wife of Sabir Hameed “Mithu,” Saadia Sabir’s total declared wealth in 2013 was zero. Just like her daughters, she revised her tax returns for the years 2015, 2016, and 2017 in the critical month of October 2018. Her revised declarations were always different from originally submitted declarations. Her declared assets in 2015 include two plots in DHA Lahore and three bank accounts and cash. She also showed eight DHA Lahore plots in the names of her minor daughters. In 2017, there is an increase in assets in her name. She possessed four plots in Lahore along with three bank accounts and some cash. The FBR documents show two plots in the name of one of her daughters. Her wealth statement for the tax year 2017 was revised thrice and the final wealth statement was submitted in October 2018.  She retained the same properties in Pakistan in 2019, 2020, and 2021 through the money in her bank accounts kept on increasing.

Foreign Assets: In 2018, Saadia’s assets inside Pakistan were two plots in DHA, Lahore, five bank accounts, and some cash. Along with these properties, Sadia Sabir bought two properties in UAE, worth Rs 254,569,560. She continued to possess these foreign assets in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021.

 

Sabir Hameed alias “Mithu”

(Father of these four girls and husband of Saadia Sabir)

 

 

In 2013, the tax paid by Sabir Hameed was less than one million. In the coming years, he became a billionaire, a powerful property business tycoon of Lahore, and started transferring assets abroad.

FBR documents show that in 2014 Sabir Hameed declared assets included eighteen properties in different areas of Lahore, a business capital of Rs 16 million, a Mercedes Benz, and Rs 152 million in cash. He also showed seven properties as “Any Other Assets” and nine properties as “Assets in Others’ names”.

In line with the family tradition, Sabir also revised his wealth statement for 2014 in 2016.

For the tax year 2015, his properties remained the same. His business capital increased to the value of Rs 22 million, and the number of “Any Other Assets” (assets declared without providing details of the assets) decreased to four.

For the year 2016, tax records show his total number of properties increased to 20, business capital increased to 27 million, and the number of “Any other assets increased to seven.

In the year 2017, the number of properties in his name increased to twenty-two, and business capital increased to Rs 28 million.

2018:

In 2018, Sabir’s daughter married General Bajwa’s eldest son, and in the same year, he started transferring properties abroad. Sabir declared 21 properties in his name, a business capital of Rs 31 million, cash of Rs 78 million, shares in “M/s Dawn Property” of Rs 985 million, La Residence Pvt Ltd Loan of Rs 136.8 million, some shares in Best Venture Ltd, and shares in H.D. Investment amounting to Rs 764 million.

He retained foreign properties of Rs 312 million, a business capital of Rs 510 million, and two bank accounts.

In the year 2019, Sabir Hameed had 20 properties in his name, a business capital of Rs 129 million, an investment of Rs 764 million, cash of Rs 273.2 million, and shares amounting to Rs 210 million.

Foreign properties 2019:

Total assets held outside Pakistan Rs 1,031,310,465

In the year 2020, Sabir declared 20 properties. His business capital amounts to Rs 141 million, an investment of Rs 764 million, and shares worth Rs 217 million.

Foreign properties 2020:

Assets held outside Pakistan ​​worth Rs 312,375,000

In 2021, Sabir declared 26 properties. These are agricultural, commercial, and residential properties in the most expensive areas of Lahore. Other than that he owns shares in land opposite EME housing society, 55 Kanal land in Mouza Thetre, Lahore Cantt, 10 Kanal land in Derta Chahal, and a half share in house 72 K in DHA Lahore. Other than these properties he had business capital of Rs 141million including capital in Dawn Motors, Rashid Filling Station, Capital Dawn Communication, investment of Rs 764 million, two Mercedes Benz and a Lexus, cash of Rs 380.3 million, and an inheritance.

Foreign properties 2021:

Assets held outside Pakistan worth Rs. 1,033,970,266. This also includes bank accounts. The address of the properties in Dubai are as follows:

80.23 SQ, Property No. 3106, Plot No. 156 MTR, – BUILDING NO 2, The Dubai

Mall Residences, Dubai and 135.45 SQ, Property No. 2302, Plot No. 156, MTR, – Building No 2, The Dubai, Mall Residences, Dubai.

Nasir Hameed

Nasir Hameed is Sabir “Mithu” Hameed’s brother and is now an influential and wealthy person in Lahore.

 

Nasir’s 2014 returns were submitted in March 2016. The wealth statement for this tax year was originally submitted in March 2016–however, continuing the tradition of the extended Bajwa family, a revised wealth statement for this year was submitted in December 2019. This revised statement showed seven agricultural and eleven residential and commercial properties in DHA, Ravi Town, and Gulberg Town. He had a business capital of Rs 12 million and assets of Rs 11 million in the name of his spouse and daughter.

The 2016 wealth statement of Nasir was originally submitted in February 2017 but was revised in December 2019. There was no change in assets.

Nasir’s 2017 wealth statement was originally submitted in December 2017 but later revised in December 2019 and retained almost the same assets.

The 2018 wealth statement shows a similar pattern. It was originally submitted in November 2018 but later revised in December 2019. During this year, Nasir retained the same assets and the only increase was an amount from a prize bond.

Nasir’s 2019 wealth statement shows eight agricultural properties and ten commercial and residential properties in different parts of Lahore including DHA and Gulberg.

The tax records for 2020 show an increase in agricultural properties. Nasir declared ten agricultural properties, ten commercial and residential properties in different parts of Lahore, and a business capital of Rs 12.8 million. Nasir’s 2021 wealth statement showed he had multiple properties worth almost Rs 3 billion and, in addition, he owns several houses of unknown measurement in different parts of Lahore.

The total worth of known assets, properties, and businesses held in Pakistan and abroad runs into tens of billions. However, a careful examination of the minimum possible market value of these properties and businesses in more than Rs12.7 billion. This does not include what General Bajwa has acquired from the government, the army, the DHAs, etc for being a major general, lieutenant general, and as chief of army staff.